Catherine Nakalembe

Dr. Nakalembe is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland in the Department of Geographical Sciences. She is the Africa Program Director under NASA Harvest, and a member of the NASA SERVIR Applied Sciences Team, where she serves as the Agriculture and Food Security Thematic Lead. For her dedication to improving food security in Africa through the enhanced use of earth observations, Dr. Nakalembe received the 2019 Individual Excellence Award from the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in Geneva, Switzerland, the 2020 Africa Food Prize from Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and Uganda’s highest civilian award, and the Presidential Golden Jubilee Medal presented by President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda in 2022. Her research focuses on developing remote sensing and machine learning applications for smallholder agriculture, early warning of food insecurity, and disaster assessment in Africa. She holds a Ph.D. in Geographical Science from the University of Maryland, Master’s in Geography and Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from Makerere University, Uganda.